As many people do, Kraemer learned viticulture mostly by trial and error.

“I just started doing it, and made mistakes along the way,” he says.

His biggest? He says he bought into the industry assumption that he needed to plant vines on extreme south slopes. The problem with that: Most of that land was at higher elevation, hence cooler.

“When I moved my vineyards down to the valley floor, the quantity and quality of the grapes improved,” he says.

“It’s a lot warmer down here.”

With that lesson in the tank, he sold off the elevated plots and didn’t look back. He says he dry farms his vines, letting nature deliver what sky and soil support.

The vines themselves claim a respected heritage. Kraemer says he was fortunate to get pinot noir and pinot gris clones from the Burgundian stock that David Lett first imported to Oregon in 1965. As we now know, those vines helped The Eyrie Vineyards leap onto the world stage in the mid-1970s.

“We got cuttings from him directly,” Kraemer says. “It’s some of the oldest wood there is.”

Great wine begins with great grapes. Naked Winery is happy to share the fruits of Dan Kraemer’s (and David Lett’s) groundbreaking labors.